Large reduction of leakage current by graded-layer La doping in (Ba0.5, Sr0.5)TiO3 thin films

A large reduction in the leakage current behavior in (Ba, Sr)TiO3 (BST) thin films was observed by graded-layer donor doping. The graded doping was achieved by introducing La-doped BST layers in the grown BST films. The films showed a large decrease (about six orders of magnitude) in the leakage current in comparison to undoped films at an electric field of 100 kV/cm. The large decrease in leakage current was attributed to the formation of highly resistive layers, originating from compensating defect chemistry involved for La-doped films grown in oxidizing environment. Temperature-dependent leakage-current behavior was studied to investigate the conduction mechanism and explanations of the results were sought from Poole–Frenkel conduction mechanism.